Ticket revenue for 2023 is expected to remain at EUR 376.1 million. The figure is 1.3 per cent below the ambitious target of EUR 381 million that we budgeted for 2023. However, we have seen some positive development in our ticket revenue: in May, we estimated that ticket revenue would be three per cent under budget. The ticket revenue for this year will be 1.8 per cent lower than in 2019.
According to estimate, the number of passengers on HSL’s public transport will be 351.9 million in 2023, which is 11 per cent less than in 2019. The passenger numbers are three per cent below the target defined at the beginning of HSL’s strategy period: we have set 362 million boardings as our target for 2023.
According to estimate, HSL’s operating expenses will be EUR 842.9 million euros, which is EUR 32.7 million euros (3.7 per cent) below the budget. The biggest single reason for this is the level of costs for bus services that has been lower than predicted. In addition, the share of electric buses is larger than budgeted. The operating and infrastructure costs will be EUR 5.8 million below the budget due to the fact that the light rail line 15 starts to operate in October – plans were made in the budget with the assumption that the light rail would begin its operation earlier in the fall.
Infrastructure costs are estimated to be EUR 198.6 million, which is EUR 2.1 million below the budget.
Investment expenditure is estimated to be EUR 22.9 million, which is EUR 0.5 million below the budget. The largest single factor for the increase in costs is the costs incurred due to the installation of HSL’s new card readers. However, we have managed to adjust costs in other projects so that the forecast will remain in line with the target.
HSL is projected to run a surplus of EUR 6.3 million.